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This article treats the possible accession of Croatia to the European Union . Croatia applied for EU membership in 2003 , and the European Commission recommended making it an official candidate in early 2004 . Candidate country status was granted to Croatia by the European Council (the EU's heads of government) in mid- 2004 . The entry negotiations, while originally set for March 2005 , began in October of the same year. As of 2006, Croatia is undergoing the screening process. After Slovenia , Croatia has recovered best from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia and so hopes to become the second former Yugoslav state to become a member. It has a stable market economy and better statistical indicators than some of the states that joined in 2004. ISSUES OF DISPUTE ICTY cooperation Croatia has had to extradite several of its citizens to the International Criminal Tribunal For The Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), an issue that was often contentious in local politics. Croatia's relations with the court had continuously been cited by the EU officials as something that required further improvement. Ratification of the EU Stabilisation And Association Agreement with Croatia had been stalled because of this. The European Council, after its summit of December 20 , 2004 , set the following March 17 as the date to start entry negotiations, provided that Croatia continued to cooperate fully with the ICTY. On March 16 , 2005 – the day before talks were to begin – the EU postponed the commencement of negotiations, because the ICTY prosecution assessed the Croatian efforts to capture the fugitive general Ante Gotovina (indicted by the ICTY for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity , but at large since 2001 ) as neither timely nor sufficient. On December 7, 2005 Spanish Police finally arrested Ante Gotovina with the help of the Spanish and Croatian governments on the Spanish island of Tenerife, located in the Canary Islands. He was brought to The Hague to be tried for war crimes. With the arrest of Ante Gotovina this issue seems to be now resolved, and entry negotiations have began anew, after the certification of ICTY chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte that Croatia now fully cooperates with the ICTY. Border disagreements Croatia must also contend with long-standing border issues with Slovenia – a series of border disputes could yet threaten Slovenia's support for Croatia's accession, but their otherwise good trade relations have so far precluded this. ''See:'' Relations Of Croatia With Slovenia Land ownership Croatia is opposed to the free acquisition of real estate by foreigners. This particularly concerns the Italians, especially in Istria which was briefly part of Italy between the two World Wars. Italian politicians expressed their discontent concerning this, considering it "discriminatory" treatment, and stated that this issue should be resolved as soon as possible. Croatia denies discrimination, indicating that Croatian legislature has predicted the same treatment to all EU citizens concerning this issue. It is also fact that the same kind of measures, concerning this issue, have been used also in many new EU member countries, before they have accessed EU. Perfect examples of that are, for instance, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, especially small Malta. ''See:'' Relations Of Croatia With Italy TIMELINE
POSSIBLE ACCESSION DATES In late 2005 , the EU officials projected that the accession of Croatia would likely happen between 2008 and 2010 . The finalisation of all chapters of the '' Acquis Communautaire '' is expected in 2008 or 2009 , while signing the accession treaty would happen in the year after. Before starting negotiations with Croatia, the ''acquis'' was divided into 35 chapters, 4 more than the usual 31; the new chapters, previously part of the agricultural policy, are areas expected to be troublesome, as they were with the other applicants. Originally Croatia had been aiming for a 2007 accession date -- such an accomplishment would have broken Slovakia's record of 2.5 years of negotiations to complete the process. It has been remarked by Olli Rehn that the EU does expect a similar speed from Croatia. Still, the EU needs to solve its internal problems before accommodating any new member after 2007; under the current Treaty Of Nice , the EU can not function with more than 27 member states. The EU Constitution would have had this problem solved, but its rejection made any future accession impossible before additional administrative reforms are undertaken. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS Official website - Negotiations for the Accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union
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